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Monday, October 1, 2012

I like to think that if Miss Havisham had a wreath hanging somewhere in her crumbling, Gothic estate, it would look like this. I wanted to make a Halloween wreath, but I wanted something more dark and creepy (but still elegant) and less cutesy. This beautiful wreath from The Art of Doing Stuff was my inspiration. I used a 12" styrofoam wreath form, two 6' feather boas (one was thinner and cheaper, the other was more full and had silver sparklies!), grey "creepy cloth" from the Dollar Tree (it's sort of like cheesecloth with a very open weave), three black styrofoam crows from Dollar Tree, two faux peacock feathers, and some sheer ribbon in Tornado Blue.

I used copper wire to make little U-shaped fasteners (like big staples) to hold the boas into the wreath form. First I wrapped the thinner boa around the form leaving gaps (like a candy cane). Then I wrapped the thicker boa around, filling in the gaps. I used my makeshift staples to hold the boas in place. Then I layered on strips of the grey cloth. I pulled the feet off of the birds and put them on wooden skewers, to which I tied lengths of ribbon. A couple peacock feathers and a simple bow at the top and my wreath was ready to go! This was a super easy, quick project. You could make it more conventionally Halloweenish by using orange or purple ribbon, replace the peacock feathers and crows with skeletons or bats. Spiderwebs instead of gauze? The possibilities are endless . . . Be creative and enjoy!

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